Telangana HC Questions Civil Supplies for Seizing Rice Millers’ Properties

Hyderabad:The Telangana High Court pulled up civil supplies department officials and district collectors for breaching the rules and procedure in seizing the land and properties of rice millers stating that they had defaulted on delivering custom milled rice (CMR) back to the government.

The court also faulted proposals by the authorities in including the seized properties in the prohibitory list and attempting to sell the seized land under the Revenue Recovery (RR) Act. Justice K. Lakshman was dealing with a batch of petitions filed by the rice mill owners.

The government` s contention was that the rice millers diverted the paddy supplied by the Civil Supplies Corporation Limited by way of sale in the open market and each of the rice millers was due around `70 crore to `90 crore. Hence, officials said, the properties were being seized and sold to recover the dues.

R.N. Hemendranath Reddy, senior counsel, appearing for the rice millers, said the corporation had dumped three times more paddy than the capacity of each mill due to the excess paddy crop production in the last two to three years. Rice mills were not able to store the excessive quantities. The rice was being drenched by rain and its condition was deteriorating.

Senior counsel also submitted to the court that without paying for storage and transportation, the authorities had determined the alleged default of money. He submitted that the authorities had not followed the procedures of Revenue Recovery Act before seizing the properties.

The judge set aside the proceedings taken up by the authorities. However, the court made it clear that if authorities could proceed in taking action by duly following the Rules prescribed in the RR Act.